Lessons from the coup in Bolivia

What is happening in Bolivia is a coup d’état by the racist, right-wing, and fascist forces of the country. These are forces that are working to facilitate the attempts of the Anglo American imperialists to exploit Bolivia’s resources.

This coup is a threat to the peasants, workers, poor, women, and the indigenous people of Bolivia. It is an undisputed fact that the social programs implemented by the government of Evo Morales have improved the lives of these people. For example, it has greatly decreased the percentage of people that live in poverty, it has diminished the level of economic inequality, it introduced the teleférico public transit system in La Paz, it has built new roads, and it has given economic aid to the most vulnerable sectors of society.

The actions of his government have also presented an obstacle to the desires of the imperialists to exploit the resources and people of Bolivia. During his time in power, Evo Morales's government nationalized the oil and natural gas industry of Bolivia, the electrical grid, the telecommunications system, and major hydroelectric plants and dams.

It also expelled the DEA from the country in 2008, and then in 2013 the CIA’s “humanitarian” USAID agency.

Finally, it must be noted that the election of Evo Morales inaugurated the rule of the first indigenous president in the modern history of this country. This was a symbol of hope for the indigenous community of Bolivia.

Now the new rulers are going to try and destroy all of this. They are going to privatize the nationalized industries, allowing more access to the imperialists. They are going to try to end the social programs that have helped peasants, workers, the indigenous, and the poor. It is also clear that anti-indigenous racism is increasing. In fact, it is well known that the new president has a long history of making racist comments against the indigenous and these constitute a part of the racist manifestations that are already occurring, such as the fascist attacks against the indigenous, the burning of the indigenous Whipala flag and the police cutting this flag from their uniforms.

The people of Bolivia that are fighting against the coup in the streets are not just fighting for Evo Morales, they are also fighting against racism, imperialism, and poverty. It has been said that if Evo Morales had confronted and removed the threat of those planning his downfall from day one, there would never have been a coup. In this, they are correct. But what exactly would have been required for Evo Morales to have done this? 

Was a coup inevitable?

Evo Morales could have mobilized his base of supporters to confront, disrupt, and debilitate the fascist movement of Luis Fernández Camacho and his Unión Juvenil Cruceñista wherever and whenever they tried to organize. He could have broken the power of the Bolivian capitalists, those who that have been in alignment with the forces of imperialism and the right wing to overthrow his government and destroy the programs that have helped the poor. In Bolivia it appears like most of the capitalist class, and many of the upper middle class, fall into this category. The capitalists get their social and political power from their property and wealth and use it to assert their will, and have no loyalty to democracy or any constitution when their rule is threatened.

In order to defeat their power, Evo Morales needed to expropriate them. The organized masses of the people would have been required to carry it out.  The police and military would not have done this, in fact, they have shown where their loyalties lie and have supported the capitalists and fascists during the coup. They are the ones that are currently attacking and killing the protesters that are resisting the coup in the streets. Evo Morales could have expropriated the capitalists and defeated the fascists with the support of the peasants, workers, poor and indigenous people.

In order to defeat the fascists and eliminate the social power of the capitalists, Morales would have had to dismantle their protectors – the police and military. The cops and military are an integral part of the capitalist state. They are the ones who physically carry out the wishes of the capitalist class. The disbanding of the cops and dismantling of the military would have been a crucial step towards the elimination of the capitalist state in Bolivia. The process of breaking the social power of the capitalists, and expropriating the means of production which they control, makes a socialist revolution possible through the transfer of power to the working classes and indigenous people.  An offensive strategy against the capitalists and the foundations of their power would have also made an eventual coup less likely to succeed.

But Morales and his party did not see this solution as necessary. It’s clear that when Morales talks of the road to socialism, he is not talking about the dismantling of the capitalist state and a social revolution. Morales offered critiques of capitalism and the problems that exist under this system, but his solution for these problems was limited to working within the capitalist system and its capitalist state.  His solutions were to “rebuild democracy” and to empower the poor, but he limited himself to offering more “human and social rights” and to redistribute wealth by means of nationalizing natural resources. The capitalist class never peacefully accepts power-sharing or limitations on its rule.

It is clear that when he speaks of socialism, he is in reality speaking of a more egalitarian and inclusive capitalism. In his Manifiesto de la Isla del Sol from 2012, he makes no mention of the need to expropriate the capitalist class or dismantle its state. His solutions leave us living in the same capitalist system that has resulted in our poverty and oppression. This is the same capitalism which is dominated by imperialism in which countries like Bolivia are subjugated to countries like the U.S. and Spain.

The limits of reform under capitalism

As we are currently witnessing in Bolivia, and as we have seen in Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, etc., the reforms that workers, peasants, and the poor win through struggle will always be under attack by the capitalist class. The end goal of these attacks always manage to destroy these gains and reforms. The only way to assure that people live without poverty, without racism and without imperialist domination is through the overthrow of the capitalist system and the dismantling of the state that administers it.

The fact that Morales is the president of Bolivia also shows that he is not for a social revolution. He believes that the capitalist state can be used to improve the lives of the workers, peasants, and indigenous of Bolivia. How could he be for the destruction of the very state he led? Morales had also used this state to attack workers and peasants when they were on strike or protesting against his policies. For example, in 2011 the federal police attacked indigenous people that were protesting the construction of a highway that would have crossed the through the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS). Members of his government justified this repression in the press. In 2013, the police also attacked members of the Bolivian Workers’ Center (COB) when they were on strike and protesting against a pension law. In 2016, the government once again arrested and injured members of the COB who were protesting the dismissal of 850 workers from the Enatex state-run company. There are many more examples.

This shows that the capitalist state, in this case led by Evo Morales, must act in the interest of the capitalist class. The person who is in charge of the state must use its forces to repress those that threaten capitalist interests. The fact that workers were protesting pensions and layoffs shows the limits of economic reforms under capitalism. In this system, workers will always live under the threat of unemployment and poverty. While left reformist leadership is squeezed between the demands of the capitalist class and those of workers and the oppressed that put them in office, they will always prioritize the needs of the capitalist system, or get pushed out or overthrown. As we see in Bolivia, if the capitalist class feels that their interests are threatened, or their ability to control the economy and maximize profits, even partially, they call on loyal repressive forces of the state to to oust and replace the existing state leadership.

Down with the coup! We must support the struggle against the coup d’état by all possible means. Their struggle is the struggle of all of the oppressed. Their defeat will result in the strengthening of the same imperialism that oppresses all of us. At the same time, we must organize to abolish the capitalist state, this is the only road towards building a genuine movement towards socialism. We should not have illusions that governments within a capitalist state can be taken over won to our side, because they exist to serve the capitalist class. We are now seeing, and have seen many times before, what happens when the capitalist class moves against a state leadership it not longer believes in or tolerates. Our only hope is for socialist revolution, which will eliminate capitalism, poverty, racism, sexism, oppression, and imperialism once and for all.

Blas Reies grew up in rural California raised by Mexican parents who were agricultural workers. He continues to work and organize in his community, is committed to social change and collaborating with others who want to fight for the liberation of all the oppressed.